Monday, February 25, 2008

Judeo-Christian Architecture 3

We walked up to Market Street via the new walkway, passing expensive sugar dispensers offering everything from cream puffs...

...to Swiss chocolates.

There was also a small museum devoted to crafts and folk art, which felt slightly incongruous.

Patrick didn't care because he adores "crafts" and happily pointed out his favorites in the window.

Still, the juxtaxposition between the homespun and the brutal modern architecture was bizarre, and it reminded me of what Liebeskind's dark cube unintentionally conjured.

It seemed an unconscious echo of the sculpture in front of the Shorenstein building at Kearny and California which used to be the world headquarters for Bank of America. The sculpture's local nickname for decades, appropriately enough, has been "the banker's heart."

Dear Willie: You're right. The grass is new. A few years ago, a section of the plaza was all boarded up for "a new look" and when the boards came down, the only difference seemed to be a few new flower beds and The Banker's Heart sitting on a bed of grass, which I agree looks ridiculous. Plus, it's now no longer wheelchair accessible in case you want to touch it. I think Ms. Alioto-Pier better get right onto this.

Dear OT and Patrick: I'm not even sure I know what a cream puff is, but since I'm not all that big on sugar or dairy (for taste reasons rather than health or moral purity reasons), that shouldn't be a big surprise.